Hon Deputy Chairperson, hon Ministers, hon members, and fellow South Africans, it is an honour to take part in today's debate, "Celebrating the Heroes and Heroines of the Liberation Struggle in South Africa."
Chairperson, through research into and knowledge of the past, our history, one immediately comes to a sense that our past represents numerous wrongdoings, such as ill-treatment of people, loss of life, sorrow and people's lack of forgiveness. We are so lucky - and we cannot thank and praise God enough for His mercy and grace given to us as people and leaders - that we have a democratic country and a beautiful Constitution to guide us all in South Africa.
We must be steadfast and treasure our heritage, because if we lose it we shall have lost our identity, who we are. This is important, because then we would be nobody.
The theme of this year touches on a variety of issues and our understanding of them. Our inheritance speaks to the history of politics, economics, social character, education, families, communities, other countries, and so on. The struggle has a very rich diversity in its history, and many heroes and heroines were responsible for this inheritance of ours as South Africans. We must also understand and salute the unsung heroes and heroines, because in their different places - homes, families, children, workplaces, churches, and so on - they played an important role in the liberation struggle in South Africa.
We must continue to celebrate those who authored the national liberation heritage of our beloved country, those who fought as kings, chiefs, warriors, soldiers and generals in the frontier wars of resistance, the Boer Wars, the liberation marches, the sit-ins, the strikes, etc. All of them played a pivotal role in the liberation of our country.
This I say in the spirit that "South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white". If one does not believe in that, then one is not a South African. The liberation struggle makes it possible for everybody to make use of the opportunities and benefits granted by South Africa to all of us.
Our mothers - women, heroines - are like a rock in every situation and all circumstances. I therefore pay tribute to and honour those heroines who in 1956 pioneered the struggle for gender equality, as well as the youth of 1976, and all who lost their lives.
We as citizens of South Africa and the world, cannot pay a great enough tribute to our father, the former President Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. We salute him for his vision and wisdom. He saw into the future better than most of us, and with his foresight he actually created the South Africa we live in today: a democratic South Africa.
We must also not forget to thank and pay tribute to heroes and heroines such as Oliver Tambo, Chief Albert Luthuli, Walter Sisulu, Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, Alan Paton, Bram Fischer, Steve Biko, Beyers Naud, Frederik van Zyl Slabbert, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Dr Allan Boesak, former President F W de Klerk and all the other people who played a huge and unforgettable role in the liberation struggle of South Africa.
Women are always the people we can applaud most for their role in creating our heritage, because they acted in the liberation struggle knowing that it would influence their families, their children and their households. However, they believed in their vision. Here we pay tribute to Victoria Mxenge, Mamphela Ramphele, Hilda Bernstein, Marcella Naidoo, Sheena Duncan, Helen Joseph, Helen Suzman, Mama Albertina Sisulu and many others. They have left us with a legacy of liberation that we can be proud of.
South Africans fought on a variety of fronts in the liberation struggle. Our liberation heritage gives the world a huge, clear example of how a nation can build a country with wisdom, responsibility, unselfishness, and a spirit of sharing one goal - South Africa. The problem we as have South Africans is that we fail to implement the goals that our Constitution demands of us. We must use the opportunities that our diverse heritage gives us, and build our national pride. In this "one nation, one goal" concept, we must nurture the liberation struggle to reach the common goal of a better South Africa. Never again should we misuse the power of government and take away the rights of other people. Thank you. [Applause.]